That’s my thought on both the book and the movie. Perhaps its not the book’s fault. There was so much hype surrounding it when it came out I thought it must be awesome. Instead I found the same simply story I’d read in a dozen other books, except this one drowning in a sea of 80s and 90s pop culture references. If it was a simply summer read without the hype I likely would have liked it for what it was.
I had similar disappointment when I finally read Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”. I read that same type of story a dozen times in other much better books but everyone was saying it was a groundbreaking book.
Regarding The Da Vinci Code, I had already read a conspiracy “non-fiction” book called The Templar Revelation that posited the idea of Jesus having living descendants when the Dan Brown novel came out, and I thought “well I’ve already read that, haven’t I?”
I read it after reading The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, which was a much more compelling fiction. I also read Focault’s Pendulum around the same time, and what a ride that was.
I had heard nothing about it before it came out. I had a friend who was just like “you’ll like this book” so I read it. It was a simple story, but I enjoyed it. The movie, not so much.
I found the book kind of insufferable, so I never bothered with the movie. Every ‘puzzle’ was solved by the protagonist saying something like ‘fortunately, I’d memorised the entire script of War Games’ or something. I started to wonder how many lifetimes it’d take to actually learn and memorise all that stuff.
On the other hand, it could be called a novel of a generation because the entire thing was basically built on millennial nostalgia. It has no appeal at all for anyone who doesn’t get all of the pop culture references of the 80’s and 90’s.
EVERY SINGLE CHOICE made in Ready Player One. What a disappointment.
That’s my thought on both the book and the movie. Perhaps its not the book’s fault. There was so much hype surrounding it when it came out I thought it must be awesome. Instead I found the same simply story I’d read in a dozen other books, except this one drowning in a sea of 80s and 90s pop culture references. If it was a simply summer read without the hype I likely would have liked it for what it was.
I had similar disappointment when I finally read Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”. I read that same type of story a dozen times in other much better books but everyone was saying it was a groundbreaking book.
Regarding The Da Vinci Code, I had already read a conspiracy “non-fiction” book called The Templar Revelation that posited the idea of Jesus having living descendants when the Dan Brown novel came out, and I thought “well I’ve already read that, haven’t I?”
I read it after reading The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, which was a much more compelling fiction. I also read Focault’s Pendulum around the same time, and what a ride that was.
I had heard nothing about it before it came out. I had a friend who was just like “you’ll like this book” so I read it. It was a simple story, but I enjoyed it. The movie, not so much.
The people saying Davinci Code (2003) was groundbreaking never read “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” from 1982:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail
Or the Preacher comics from 1995-2000:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preacher_(comics)
I found the book kind of insufferable, so I never bothered with the movie. Every ‘puzzle’ was solved by the protagonist saying something like ‘fortunately, I’d memorised the entire script of War Games’ or something. I started to wonder how many lifetimes it’d take to actually learn and memorise all that stuff.
I actually liked it. The book was good too. I wasn’t completely disaffected. Agree to disagree.
A few of the visuals in the movie were stunning to me!
I also didn’t mind it in either medium. It’s not like it’s a novel of a generation. Fun silly book, fun silly movie
On the other hand, it could be called a novel of a generation because the entire thing was basically built on millennial nostalgia. It has no appeal at all for anyone who doesn’t get all of the pop culture references of the 80’s and 90’s.